Jim Neidhart
While in the WWF, Bret Hart and Neidhart formed a highly successful tag team, "The Hart Foundation". At first they were a heel team managed by "The Mouth Of The South" Jimmy Hart. The Hart Foundation made their pay-per-view debut at WrestleMania 2 when they were the last 2 eliminated by Andre the Giant in a 20 man invitational battle royal. Jimmy Hart led The Hart Foundation to their first Tag Team Championship in January 1987 by defeating the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid) on the Superstars of Wrestling with the help of heel referee "Dangerous" Danny Davis. They would hold the belts until October 1987 when they dropped the belts to Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) when Neidhart submitted to Martel's Boston crab. Used as mid-carders in early 1988, the Hart Foundation wrestled in another 20 man battle royal at WrestleMania IV before starting a feud with The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. In the summer of 1988, the Hart Foundation fired Jimmy Hart and turned face when Hart started managing the Foundation's rivals The Rougeaus who, in the storyline, also gained 25% of the Foundation's contract and subsequent money. The Hart Foundation unsuccessfully challenged Demolition (Ax and Smash) for the tag team titles at SummerSlam 88 when Ax hit Hart with Jimmy Hart's megaphone. The Foundation would continue feuding with Jimmy Hart's wrestlers for the next year, teaming with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to defeat Dino Bravo and The Rougeau's in a two out of three falls match at the 1989 Royal Rumble before defeating The Honky Tonk Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine at WrestleMania V. They then faced the Tag Team Champions the Brain Busters in a non-title match at SummerSlam 89 where they lost pushing them further from regaining their titles. The Hart Foundation was split in late 1989 as both Bret Hart and Neidhart began wrestling singles matches to varying degrees of success. The Anvil was often pitted against other "power" wrestlers such as The Warlord during this period. The Hart Foundation re-formed in early 1990 and started challenging for the titles almost immediately. At WrestleMania VI in Toronto, Canada, they defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) in just 19 seconds following which they started a second feud with champions Demolition, who by this time had added Crush due to Ax's ongoing health problems. They won their second Tag Team Championship by defeating Demolition at SummerSlam 90 in a two out of three falls match. Jimmy Hart was also instrumental in ending the team's second championship reign at WrestleMania VII when he led The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags) to the titles against his former team, after Jimmy's distraction of the referee allowed Sags to knock out Neidhart with a helmet. After Bret split off into singles competition, Neidhart went to the announce table, commenting for Wrestling Challenge, alongside Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. In the fall of 1991, he returned to the ring, but only to be injured by Ric Flair during a match held on the November 9 episode of Superstars, followed by an ambush by the Beverly Brothers. Neidhart was removed from the annual Survivor Series 1991, but returned soon after teaming up with Owen Hart (Bret's younger brother) as "The New Foundation." The New Foundation saw moderate success including a win over The Orient Express (Kato and Tanaka) at the Royal Rumble 92 pay-per-view. Neidhart left the WWF a few weeks later. Neidhart reappeared in the WWF at King of the Ring 1994 as the mystery cornerman of Bret in his WWF Championship defense against Intercontinental Champion Diesel. The finish saw Diesel Jackknife Bret to the canvas, which would have assured him of capturing the Federation championship. Neidhart, however, interfered, costing Bret the match, but allowing him to retain his title. Following the match, Bret was subject to a beatdown at the hands of Diesel and Shawn Michaels, but Neidhart did not come to Bret's aide. Later in the night, Neidhart reappeared at ringside during Owen's match against Razor Ramon in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament. Neidhart assaulted Ramon behind the referee's back, allowing Owen to become the second WWF King of the Ring (after his brother Bret, who was King in 1993) on pay-per-view. Owen was mired in a feud with Bret stemming from the 1994 Royal Rumble. Neidhart believed Owen when he said that Bret had been holding him down all his life and sided with him against his former tag team partner. Usually seconding Owen in his matches throughout the summer of 1994, Neidhart was seated in the third row at SummerSlam 1994 behind members of the Hart family, as well as "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith for the steel cage match pitting Bret against Owen for the Federation championship; this was the title that Neidhart had saved for Hart back at the King of the Ring so Owen could claim it at SummerSlam. Following a grueling match-up, Bret emerged triumphant, but was later subject to another beating at the hands of Owen and Neidhart, who locked themselves inside the caged ring while members of the Hart family tried to climb over the top to get in and help Bret. Neidhart joined Owen as part of Shawn Michaels' "Teamsters" team at Survivor Series 1994. After eliminating all the members of Razor Ramon's "Bad Guys" team except for Razor himself, Michaels inadvertently hit Diesel with the Sweet Chin Music. This move split up their tag team, as Diesel chased Michaels down the aisle. This cost their team the match as Neidhart and Owen were counted out along with the rest of the "Teamsters". Following Survivor Series, Neidhart disappeared from the WWF. In mid-1996, he had a stint as a masked heel under the name Who, where he would lose all of his matches. He last wore the mask at SummerSlam 1996 as part of the "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" party held during the Free For All pre-show. Neidhart returned to the WWF in 1997, reuniting with Bret as part of his new Hart Foundation, a stable of Canadian sympathizers (joining Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and Brian Pillman). His most high-profile match during this stint was at the Canadian Stampede pay-per-view in Calgary, where the Hart Foundation defeated the American team of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and The Legion of Doom in a ten-man tag team match. He was also a part of Team Canada at Survivor Series 97, teaming with The British Bulldog, Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon to defeat Team USA, composed of Vader, Goldust, Marc Mero and Steve Blackman (Bulldog was the sole survivor). On Raw XV, the 15th-anniversary WWE Raw special on December 10, 2007, Neidhart participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal, eventually making it to the final five before being eliminated by Skinner. Category:Current Alumni Category:World Tag Team Champions Category:Canadian wrestlers Category:Male professional wrestlers Category:Deceased